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25.6.05

David's 2005 Photos

Hey everyone,

Well, last night some 1150 people came out to critical mass in vancouver!!!I have posted some photos at

4 Comments:

Rode to the CM with Jane on my chopper. We met 3 different cyclists coming on the same route as us to Critical Mass across the Cambie Bridge then up Robson.

This was a great ride. When it started out raining I was sure it would be smaller than last year. However, somehow it went bigger and we even left at 6pm sharp surprisingly!

I rode near the back because I had to play catch-up when it left so soon. When I caught up the ride was already well into the Granville Bridge. That was amazing to see the entire bridge full of happy people. So many different bikes.

When we went back across Burrard I decided to try and go to the front of the mass. I pedalled and pedalled in between people and the front was very far away. I did this all the way up Burrard to Davie, I saw jack pulling a wheelbarrow. I was so excited and laughing at how neverend and wonderful the group was. I cut through the gas station then along Davie for a while, past Thurlow. When I finally was at the front at the peak of the hill of Davie. Then we all raced down the hill with a thousand behind us.

I stopped to cork at Denman and Davie and it was magnificent to look up the hill and see the hundreds of bikes coming along. As we stood there a car advanced into the intersection then stopped quite close. They seemed impatient but they were waiting so no big deal. Suddenly, a few minutes later, the car gunned the engine and swerved left very close to the corkers and meanwhile the passenger sprayed us with bear spray! I didn't get it too bad but Steve got the worst of it. It was totally unprovoked and idiotic. Apparently some people followed the car and got the license number. It was too fast for me. So we had to do a little first aid and the mass passed us by. Not too long however, and Steve was ready to ride again, minus his toxic shirt.

So we sped off Northeast and tried to catchup on Robson and then Georgia. Some early leaver Critical Massers said: follow the line of cars to the causeway and we realised they were headed for the Lions Gate Bridge. Finally we were going to have 1000 bikes to tame the lions gate bridge. That had been our goal on Sunday, June 27th 1999 - six years ago!

Steve and I didn't catch up until the Mass was about half way off the bridge, having turned around in the middle and come back to the scenic park drive. People rode too fast! There were a lot of pissed off car drivers waiting to cross the bridge who said we had delayed them so very long. Fat chance! People were off the bridge before I even caught up. What do you expect from people who commute to the North Shore everyday? One guy tried to tell me that it was only us causing the traffic delay. As if the cars are smooth running the other 29 days of the month that aren't critical mass. Delusion will get you far.

The ride continued along beach ave until about sunset beach and then we just kind of decided to stay at the beach. It was funny because we stopped right behind this big movie set for some very lame looking made for TV basketball movie. Normally the movie people shuffle us vancouverites around to make way for their fantasy but this time the reality was too huge for that. People picniced in the grass and Donald brought his BBQ bike down onto the sand and we had a veg weinnie roast until the late hours and night swimming.

Fun Fun Fun

The counts I heard was 1020 before we got onto granville bridge. Jane counted 1200+ coming off the bridge. Somebody else counted 1140 around burrard. When I was playing catch-up I saw lots of little groups of riders leaving early to go places. It was like that all night, so many little groups around the city we would bumb into and whoop like the weenie cyclists we are!

What an amazing day!My favorite part was coasting silently down the Stanley park zoo-bomb. I was far enough in front of the mass, to be about half way in the large space between the motorists and hoots, shouts and bells of 1000 happy cyclists. The long downhill was nice for me, because my drivetrain is so noisy. Hearing all the little creatures in the woods made it seem so much more alive.

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